


Let’s Dance In Style (Let’s Dance For a While)

by zimriya



Series: Daemon!Verse [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Alternate Universe - Daemons, Canon Compliant, Fluff, M/M, Pining, Underage - Freeform, his dark materials fusion, mentions to underage fooling around, x-factor era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-08
Updated: 2014-03-08
Packaged: 2018-01-15 01:38:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1286371
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zimriya/pseuds/zimriya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry’s sixteen years old when he decides to audition for the X-Factor as a solo act, gets put in a boyband, and his daemon settles. All of those things, it turns out, have to do with Louis Tomlinson. And probably fate, if he’s being romantic, but semantics.</p><p>A His Dark Materials AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Let’s Dance In Style (Let’s Dance For a While)

**Author's Note:**

> Betaed by my darling Marta, as always. Many discussions of oomph were had. (We had our first writing disagreement it was amazing.) Britpicked by Jade and also [Jess](http://thisismyoneluckyprize.tumblr.com/), whose blog is amazing and all of you should go follow. Also looked over by Niamh, who continues to cheer me on is also awesome and amazing. All other mistakes are my own. (As are the American spellings.)
> 
> Also, a thank you to the lovely [bulletprooflarry](http://bulletprooflarry.tumblr.com/), whose incredibly detailed timelines were the backbone of my research for this fic. (Canon AUs are hard, yes I’m writing more strap in for a ride, lovelies, 2012 is the home of the angst.)
> 
> A note: Please do not post my fics anywhere on other websites or share them with anyone linked to the boys/the boys, thank you!
> 
> [Here](http://zimriya.tumblr.com/daemonau) is a handy primer to daemons/HDM on my tumblr!

**July 2010**

\--

When Harry decides to go out for the X-Factor, he kind of forgets to mention that Aeliana isn’t settled. It’s not exactly unheard of, having an unsettled daemon at sixteen, but it’s still not the norm. Harry’s read all about the studies showing how daemons are settling at increasingly older ages, has even gone so far as to leave them around the house in the hopes that it’ll stop his mum from worrying, but that hasn’t done anything to keep his schoolmates from whispering or his teachers from giving him worried looks. Harry’s _sixteen_ years old; he’d already had enough trouble deciding on his A-Levels, let alone reached the level of maturity where the _physical embodiment of his soul_ should be making those kinds of life choices. Either way, he doesn’t really feel the need to mention it for the first four days of boot camp, which would be fine, if the fourth day of boot camp wasn’t also the day he ends up meeting Louis.

He’s gotten about three paces into the loo, having escaped his mum and Robin in order to wash his face and try not to vomit, when it happens. And then Liana’s not a mouse anymore.

It’s more startling than anything else; one second Liana is sitting on his shoulder whispering praise into his ear and still very much the field mouse she’d been for Harry’s entire audition, and the next she’s considerably larger and longer, and there is a boy standing in front of the urinals gaping at them. He’s got his flies undone and his dick out, and all in all it is probably the most embarrassing thing Harry has ever done in his life.

“Oops,” he says, somewhat stupidly. “I mean, um.”

“Hi,” says the boy slowly. _His_ daemon doesn’t seem to be about to make any sort of life changing decisions, Harry notes sourly. She’s a cat of some sort, seated at the boy’s feet, and she very pointedly does not look over at Harry and his newly settled daemon.

By contrast, Liana can’t seem to stop moving, claws scrabbling at Harry’s shoulders and collarbones and she repeats under her breath like a mantra, “I can’t change, I can’t change, I can’t change…”

The boy meets Harry’s eyes for only a second longer, before he too is turning to face forward.

Harry has never blushed this hard in his life. “Sorry,” he says again, because he’s also never been able to leave well enough alone.

The boy turns back to him, dick still out, and raises one delicate eyebrow as if to say, _for what? coming into this very public loo?_ He’s got very lovely hair, almost caramel in color, and it falls across his forehead in one clean sweep. His eyes are very, very blue.

“I mean,” Harry continues like an idiot. “Not for, like, wanting to use the loo.”

The boy’s lips twitch, but Harry can’t seem to stop talking.

“For, the whole, um.” Harry stops, cheeks still burning, and turns and heads for the sinks before he can make things worse. “Sorry,” he mutters again.

Liana finally seems to find her voice, twisting around in his arms so that she glare at him. Harry’s relatively certain she’s a river otter, and he would ask her, but before he can she reaches up and grabs him by the ear. “Stop talking,” she says crossly.

“Not helping,” Harry replies.

The boy finishes at the urinals and comes to join them at the sinks, his daemon hopping up next to him and giving them a long stare.

For a moment, neither of them say anything.

Finally, the boys sighs. “I’m Louis,” he says, turning to offer Harry a hand. He pauses, eyes crinkling, before making a show of turning on the water, using soap, and giving his hands a shake before extending it again.

Harry takes it. “Harry,” he manages. “Erm, hi.”

Louis smiles at him. “Hi,” he replies. He has a nice smile and it reaches his eyes. It makes something warm curl in the pit of Harry’s stomach and he ends up staring down at their joined hands in something of a daze.

He can feel Liana shifting in his arms, and before he knows it she’s jumped down onto the sinks and padded over so that she’s eye to eye with Louis’ cat daemon. “I’m Aeliana,” she says seriously. “Nice to meet you.”

Harry can already feel himself flushing, perfectly aware that his daemon’s friendliness seems to rub people the wrong way, and goes to snatch his hand back. “ _Li_ ,” he whines under his breath.

Louis just tightens his grip on Harry’s hand and his daemon just swishes her tail, before shifting on the sink until she’s an otter as well. “Tiamat,” she says, voice a little rougher than Louis’ own. She holds the shape for a few moments, long enough to nudge at Liana’s nose and ascertain that she’s a little smaller, before flitting into the shape of a sparrow.

“You’re unsettled,” Harry breathes on reflex, and, God, he’s such an idiot--

Louis’ shoulders stiffen and Tiamat’s eyes go hard, but Harry tightens his grip on Louis hand before he can pull it back.

“No, I--” he says quickly, eyes wild. “I’m not--Liana only just settled.” He shoots her a panicked look. “Like, just now.”

That’s obviously not what Louis had been expecting, because his hand goes slack in Harry’s. He blinks. “Like, just now?” he repeats slowly. “ _Just now_ , just now?”

Harry nods frantically. “Yes, I--” he says, voice cracking awkwardly. “I walked into the loo and she was an otter.”

Louis blinks again. “Huh,” he says.

“Yeah,” Harry says. “So I’m not--I didn’t mean to be rude--” He has no idea where he’s going with any of this, but at least Louis isn’t looking at him like he’s out to get him. In fact, his lips are twitching a little and there are crinkles around his eyes. “It’s just, I’ve never met anyone else with an unsettled daemon.”

Louis looks amused. Harry still hasn’t let go of his hand.

“I mean, someone not a child,” he continues. “Someone not--how old are you?”

That makes Louis laugh, a loud barking noise that goes echoing around the room. “Why, Harold,” he says. “How very forward of you.”

Harry flushes even harder. “No, I--” he says. “I’m sixteen.”

There’s a beat. Liana stops staring at Tiamat and climbs up onto Harry’s shoulders. “What did I do to get stuck with you, again?” she says, poking him in the neck with a paw. “You’ve swallowed both your feet and moved on to your calves.”

“Now that you mention it, I do remember you,” Louis is saying. “You sang _Isn’t She Lovely?_ ”

Harry pauses. “Yes?” he says. “You, um, remember me?”

Louis’ hand twitches and Harry releases it as if burned. “Yeah,” Louis says. “You’re really good.”

Harry doesn’t know what to do with his newly returned hand, so he ends up messing with his curls a little, embarrassed. “Thank you,” he manages. “You were, um, well.” He manages a smile.

“I was awful,” Louis tells him. “Be glad you didn’t see it--practically murdered the Plain White Ts, I did.” He waves a self deprecating hand. “I should probably release some sort of public apology--atone for my sins and all.”

Harry frowns. “I’m sure you were very good,” he tells Louis, sincere. “After all, you impressed enough of the judges to get put through.” And then he pauses, flushing _yet again_. “You, um, did get put through, right?”

Louis waits a moment before putting him out of his misery, laughing again and giggling about Harry’s face. “Yes, you knob,” he says. “Yeah, no, I’ve been in here having a conciliatory wank over my loss, thank you for interrupting me”

Harry giggles right back at him. “Louis,” he says, drawing the name out.

“Harold,” Louis says back.

“That’s not actually my name, though,” Harry points out helpfully. Liana goes to smack him on the nose, which he dodges.

Louis looks aghast.”What, really?” he exclaims. “Damnit.”

“Yep,” Harry replies, still smiling. “I’m just Harry.”

“Well, Just Harry,” Louis tells him, draping an arm around his shoulders. He’s careful not to disrupt Liana, who leaps down onto the sinks again, grumbling. “I don’t know about the rest of Britain, but you have my vote.” He grins. “So obviously we need to take a picture.”

Harry licks his lips. “Um,” he says. “Why?”

Louis starts steering them towards the door of the loo and Harry lets him, all thoughts of throwing up and nerves forgotten. “Because you’re going to be famous, Harry, please,” Louis tells him with gusto. “And one day when I’m a poor starving artist I’m going to need to have a photo of you that I can sell for ridiculous sums of money.”

“Ah, right,” Harry agrees, equally seriously, as the door to the loo falls shut. Liana startles a little as it just misses her tail. Tiamat’s taken the form of a hummingbird and is fluttering around near Louis’ head. “I understand. Good planning.”

Louis gives a very serious nod. “I thought you’d agree,” he says. “Right.” He reaches into his pocket with his free hand and pulls out a flip phone. “Say cheese.”

\--

Harry’s name doesn’t get called, and oddly enough, the first thing he thinks about is how he’s inadvertently ruined Louis life. What will the older boy do now, seeing as his half-arsed photo with Harry won’t be worth anything when he’s a starving artist. But then the gravity of the situation sets in, and Harry is left clutching awkwardly at Liana while he watches his dreams walk away without him.

“Hey.” Liana reaches up to poke him in the face, and Harry realizes his cheeks are wet.

He looks down at her curiously.

“Stop being so negative,” his daemon tells him, eyes narrowed. “It’s not the end of the world.”

Harry manages something of a watery smile. “Yeah, but,” he starts to say, voice rough, when he’s interrupted. The next thing he knows he’s being brought back into a room with the rest of the boys who didn’t make it.

“Exit interviews,” Liana tells him under her breath. “They just want us to cry.”

Harry doesn’t disagree, but he shushes her a bit, eyes darting around the room in hopes of spotting Louis. When he sees him, he tries to smile, but he’s pretty sure it falls somewhat short. They end up standing next to each other while the man goes for his clipboard. Tiamat is nowhere to be seen.

“Niall Horan,” says the man, and the blond boy next to Harry and Louis clutches at his chin with both hands. His daemon is a goat, one of the larger ones, and she makes a relieved noise on reflex when his name is called.

Harry just keeps his arms crossed and tries not to be so obviously crying. He can see the cameras.

“Zayn Malik,” continues the man, and a another boy steps forward. This one seems considerably less emotional. He looks to be about Harry’s age, with close cropped dark hair and striking eyes. His daemon is a long, cat-like animal with a silver black spotted coat, and a twitching nose.

“Liam Payne.” The next boy’s the one Harry remembers from two years ago, who was ultimately deemed too young. His daemon is a chocolate Labrador, and she can’t seem to stop panting.

And then the man is calling Harry’s name, and Harry isn’t thinking about anything beyond breathing. Immediately after, the man calls Louis’ name, which doesn’t help matters _at all_ , and they’re all shuffling off towards the stage.

It’s worse this time, facing Nicole and Louis and Simon, but at least Harry isn’t alone. He ends up pressed next to Niall and Zayn, Louis and Liam just out of reach. Harry doesn’t bother looking away from the three people in front of him, not even to glance over at the group of girls gathered to his right. His cheeks are still wet.

Neither Nicole, Louis, or Simon speak.

“I still think it’s just a ploy for viewers,” Liana tells him, disgruntled, but she quiets when Harry glares at her.

Niall’s daemon stands somewhere to their left, leaning into nudge at Niall’s hip with her nose. Harry watches the two of them for a moment, before Liana comes to stand closer to him, a comforting spot of warmth across both his feet.

“Viewers,” she repeats, before Tiamat lands on her back as a bird.

Harry visibly startles, eyes searching out Louis’, who has the decency to look at least moderately chagrined. Harry can feel Tiamat, as he can feel all things Liana does, but it’s like the settings are dialed down; his nerves are firing, but he’s not getting the full effect. He wonders what it feels like on Louis’ end, if he’s getting the little bursts of fire up and down his spine.

“Thank you so much for coming back,” says Nicole, just as Harry finally manages to get his heart moderately under control. She keeps speaking, voice calm and collected about how she and the rest of the judges thought long and hard before making decisions and how they’re all too good to let go. But then she looks between the two groups, and says, “We thought it would be a good idea to have two separate groups.”

The rest of what she’s said is lost in the rush of blood to Harry’s ears. He goes stumbling around Niall and Zayn towards Louis, Liana shaking at his side and Tiamat in the air flashing between bird shape after bird shape, and doesn’t even think twice about hugging him.

“I guess I won’t be needing that photo after all,” Louis says into his ear, before he’s hoisting himself up and into Harry’s arms. “Bandmate.”

\--

The Bungalow is entirely Liana’s idea. Harry spends the last few days of July waiting for the Judge’s House. He debates making a Twitter account to help chronicle his “journey to fame”, as his mum puts it, ruffling his hair when Harry wanders down for breakfast, but ultimately can’t be arsed. Mostly, he wonders what the other boys are doing. They’d had the initial interviews when they’d been put together, done basic introductions, exchanged numbers, made plans to get together to figure things out, but they’ve never sung together. Like, ever.

Sure, Nicole and Simon and Louis must have seen _something_ in them, but Harry’s not entirely sure what it is. He’s been sworn to complete secrecy till at least September, so there’s really nothing for him to do but think about that, which is why three days after boot camp finds Harry sprawled across his bed worrying his lip raw.

“Why don’t you call him?” says Liana finally. She’d jumped off the bed a few minutes ago, fed up with Harry’s nerves, and disappeared somewhere underneath it. Harry knows she’d found the porn and socks he has stashed there, because she’d been incredibly vocal about it. Now, though, she emerges somewhere near his feet, covered in dust.

“Call who?” says Harry petulantly. Like he doesn’t know.

Liana is very unimpressed. “Louis,” she tells him, putting two paws on the bedspread and staring at him impassively.

Harry sighs, but sits up to pick her up anyway. That was one of the first things they’d had to get used to: her size. Harry’d always been more than a little clumsy, but it didn’t help that his over-excitable otter daemon had a tendency to go running between his legs.

“I’m not going to call Louis,” he explains, watching as Liana starts shaking the dust off of her.

“I don’t see why not,” says his daemon. “You haven’t stopped texting him since.”

As if on cue, Harry’s phone buzzes over on his desk, and it takes all of his self control not to get up and inspect it. The last thing he’d sent Louis was a frankly adorable photo of Liana curled up on his pillow chewing on her tail, so Harry’s justified in not picking up. His daemon had been asleep at the time; if she sees it, she might actually murder him.

“Yeah, but,” he says, twitching a little when the phone buzzes again, “I don’t have anything to say.” He bites at his lip some more. It’s possible it’s not Louis, since all of the boys have been bouncing around group name titles via text in hopes that something will stick. Most likely it is him, though, since Harry has no luck.

“Your loss,” his daemon tells him. “But stop that--you’re going to bleed.”

Harry sighs, but stops chewing on his bottom lip. He leans back against the bed and sighs. “I’m just--what if we don’t even make it to the live shows?”

Liana stops grooming herself and flops down across Harry’s lap. The move knocks the breath right out of him, and he lets out a small puff of air.

“You’re only going to make yourself sick,” she tells him. “Also, you’re not listening to me. Which is why you should call Louis, complain to him, and then call the rest of our sorry excuse for a boyband--”

“Hey!” Harry protests.

“--so you _can_ sing together and I can stop listening to you whine,” Liana finishes, ignoring him.

Harry pouts at her for a bit, then turns to look up at his ceiling some more. That makes sense, actually. Certainly they should at least have some sort of band meeting to figure _something_ out. Maybe Harry should see if Robin would let him have the bungalow for a week or two--that’d be convenient and nice, probably. At the very least, he should probably stop pouting.

He sighs. “Li--”

Liana hits him in the face with her tail. “Call him,” she says.

\--

They end up awkwardly stuffed into a cafe, Niall and Liam taking up the edges of the booth because of their daemons and Harry wedged in next to Louis. Zayn is nowhere to be seen.

No one seems to want to speak.

Niall’s daemon, Eirian, starts eating Niall’s napkins. She begins with his own, and then when she finishes, all the other ones on the table, which Harry hands over to Niall without prompting.

“Thanks,” Niall says.

“No problem,” says Harry.

Liam’s daemon, Bethania, has started sighing, and she’s got her head resting on Liam’s thigh. So far, Liam’s been the quietest. He’d also been the first to the table, been waiting the longest, and Harry can see his other leg jiggling.

At his side, Louis is very diligently drawing a cock and balls on his own napkin, tongue poking out from behind his teeth, brow furrowed. Harry has yet to see Tiamat.

Still no Zayn. It’s been about five minutes.

“So,” Harry says finally. “This bodes well.”

Louis doesn’t look up from his drawing. “We should kick him out of the band,” he says, but Harry can tell he’s joking. He’s not quite sure how--something about the line of his brow and how his mouth moves--but he nudges him with his foot anyway. Louis’ lips twitch in response, but otherwise he doesn’t respond.

“Absolutely not,” Liam says. “Simon wanted all five of us for a reason.”

Louis doesn’t so much as twitch, but Tiamat crawls out of his shirt in the form of a bat. She stares unblinkingly back at Liam. “I was joking,” Louis explains, slowly, with a touch of disdain.

Liam shrinks in on himself. “Oh,” he says quietly. From the little he can see of her, Harry thinks Bethania wilts a little. He goes to say something, _anything_ , but Niall beats him to it.

“Give it a hat,” he says, apropos of nothing.

Harry closes his mouth. “What?”

“What kind of hat?” Louis finally stops drawing to look at Niall with single-minded focus.

Niall stares back with equal concentration. “A sombrero,” he decides finally, nodding. “And give it those shaker things.”

Harry purses his lips. “Maracas?” he says slowly.

Louis stares at Niall for another few seconds, before he breaks out into a grin. “Brilliant,” he says, turning back to his napkin, where he gives the cock a sombrero. “I like you--Niall can stay.”

He doesn’t look at Liam, but adds, “Not quite sure about you, Payno.”

Liam’s lips purse, whether it be at the nickname or his tone, and Bethania whines.

Harry hurries to fill the space. “Anyway,” he says. “Do you think we should call Zayn?”

Louis goes back to his drawing after a moment. “Maybe?” he says. He finishes the hat and starts in on the maracas. Part of Harry is incredibly proud about that.

Liana rolls her eyes at him, but keeps silent.

“I’ve got his number,” Liam puts in helpfully.

Louis finally looks at him. “Okay,” he says, because they _all_ have Zayn’s number.

“Yay,” Harry manages. “Try him?”

Liam pulls out his phone and does so, but nothing comes of it. The phone rings, and rings, and rings, then goes to voicemail.

Louis finishes with his napkin, and reaches out to give it to Eirian. Niall seems a little taken aback by that, but his daemon takes it anyway, eyes darting to Niall’s briefly. “So, we do it without him, then,” Louis says, yawning. “We can always clue him in later.”

Harry nods. “Um, also, I asked my stepdad, and he said we could use his bungalow for a bit, if we wanted? To, like, get to know each other?”

Liam, Niall, and Louis all nod. “That sounds good,” says Liam. He finally sounds excited. “We can practice a bit, pick out some songs--I was thinking of doing something like _Torn_ \--” He breaks off, somewhat sheepish. “Well, we can work it out.”

Harry smiles at him. “That sounds good, Liam,” he says.

“Yeah, yeah,” Louis agrees. “Enough of that. Harry. Tell me about this bungalow of yours?”

Harry turns to look at him. “Well, um,” he says. “What do you want to know?”

Louis gives him his full attention. “Is there a pool?” he wants to know.

“Um.”

“Can we have a campfire?” Louis continues.

“See--”

Eirian butts Niall in the side. “Ask the question,” she says.

“What--ow--okay,” Niall replies, flushed. “What about instruments?” he asks. “‘Cause I can play guitar, sort of?” He looks a bit sheepish. “If you want?”

Liam lights up. “Yeah!” he says. “That’d be cool. What can you play?”

“Just basic stuff right now,” Niall explains. “Chords and few Eagles songs. I’m still learning.”

“Definitely bring it,” Liam tells him.

“Also, food,” Louis is saying. He hasn’t really stopped talking for most of the conversation, but Harry’s pretty sure he’s the only one still listening.

“Okay, Lou,” he says. “Whatever you say.”

Louis seems a bit startled, but then he smiles, pleased. “Awesome,” he says. And then to the table at large, “Hazza’s my favorite.”

Which Niall takes offense at, pointing out his contribution to the penis drawing, at which point Louis opens the floor for arguments, and even Liam seems to relax enough to bring up points in his own favor. After that, it’s rather easy, and when Zayn finally calls back a half hour later, they’ve figured out the logistics of their bungalow stay (a week or so in August, just in time to get used to each other vocally before the Judge’s House), and have started planning their wardrobe.

“No, but, Tommo’s shoes,” Niall is saying loudly, as Louis cackles in the background and threatens to take off said shoes.

Harry has to wrestle his feet off of the table, if only to prevent him from killing them all before they can so much as sing a note. “You’re awful,” he tells Louis, once he gets one foot down off the table.

Liam just shakes his head at the two of them, grinning a little, as he tries to explain the situation to Zayn. “Yeah, so--next week in August?”

Louis gets a foot free and starts to pull at his shoe.

“No, stop!” Niall protests, making a face and shifting as far away as he can from the booth. “God, that’s _rank_!”

“This is why you wear socks,” Harry gets out between his teeth, fighting with Louis. He fails, and Louis gets the shoe off. He puts it on the table.

“This shoe?” he asks Niall, wiggling his toes a little in his direction.

Niall twists away and covers his nose. “Ahhh, Tommo,” he moans. “You’re killing me.”

Louis turns to Harry. “H?”

“I feel faint,” Harry tells him, grinning despite himself. “I don’t think I’ll ever smell again.”

“You think you’ve got it bad,” Liana tells him, both paws over her own nose. “It’s ten times worse for me.”

Louis looks unapologetic. “What about you, Payno?” he says, nudging the shoe over.

Liam covers the phone. “Sorry, Zayn, hang on.” He looks at Louis for a long moment and Louis stares back. Harry and Niall stop moving and glance between them eagerly, smiles slowly slipping off their faces. Finally, Liam grins. “Are you sure that’s only one day’s worth of foot stink,” he says. “Tommo?” He adds the nickname a little awkwardly, not quite sure of himself.

Harry holds his breath.

And then Louis grins, wide and pleased, and the tension breaks, the four of them dissolving into breathless giggles, which then turn into quiet smiles. “Alright,” Louis concedes. “Liam can stay too.”

Liam smiles back, cheeks pleasantly flushed, and Behthania’s tail wags.

They spend the next few minutes in happy silence, and Harry wouldn’t want to break it for anything.

That is, until Zayn says, audible to all of them, “All of you are bloody nuts?” at which point all bets are off and all four of them are laughing again, even as Zayn grumbles something unintelligible and threatens to hang up on them.

“No, wait,” cries Louis, in between giggles, wrestling his way out of the impromptu puppy pile Niall and Harry had instigated after he’d started threatening to take off his shoes again. “Zayn, sing us a thing!”

Harry blinks, confused, but Niall perks right up. “Yeah, come on,” he says, sounding pleased. “What’s something everyone knows?”

“God Save the Queen?” Harry mutters to himself.

Louis snorts at him. “We’re not testing this band’s sound with the national anthem, Harold,” he says. “I’m not that bloody patriotic.”

Harry grins at him, mock-hurt. “But, Louis, I was planning on ordering some custom Toms with the flag on them for our first performance,” he says.

“Can you even _get_ custom Toms?” says Liam says, but his voice gets lost when Niall weighs in.

“Oh, absolutely not,” he says. “I’m not putting anything less than the Irish flag on me feet,” he says.

“Does Ireland even have a flag?” says Liam, sounding even more confused, and Harry can hear Zayn very quietly assuring him that they do. Luckily Niall and Louis don’t hear, because they’re too busy arguing the merits of having Niall stand out because of his shoes.

“If anything, no one should stand out,” Louis tells Niall. “We’re a band, not a solo act with a back up.”

“Yeah, but, NSYNC had Justin Timberlake,” points out Niall, and Louis’ eyes light up and he turns to Harry.

“I am not being Justin Timberlake,” Harry tells him before he can speak. “Just because we both have curls doesn’t mean I’m going to dye my hair that appalling shade of lemon for, like, popularity.”

Louis looks aghast.

Niall looks amused. “Ah, come off it, Harry,” he says, reaching out to ruffle said curls. “You’d look lovely blond.”

Liam and Louis both stop what they’re doing--glaring at each other and having a conversation with their eyes?--to stare at Harry.

“I could see it,” says Louis, finally, and Liam shrugs.

Zayn’s voice come from the phone, bone dry. “I’m going to have to disagree,” he says. “But do you still want me to sing something?”

Harry would hug him if he could. “Yeah,” he says, looking around the table. “Suggestions?”

No one says anything, until Zayn sighs, and starts to sing a familiar melody. The rest of them join in, Harry around the same time as Louis and Liam, voices sounding nice together despite the lack of practice. It’s, shoddy, to put it lightly, and Harry’s pretty sure he botches quite a few notes (what would the Queen say to that, he wonders, but then, he’s never going to meet her anyway.) but it’s good. Different than what Harry pictured when he woke up just barely old enough to try out for the X-Factor, for sure, but good.

By the time they’re finished, all of them are smiling again, and even Zayn sounds quietly pleased when he bids them all goodbye and hangs up.

\--

Harry texts them all later that night, heart pounding, as he lies in bed thinking about paths and journeys and traveling and the way it felt when Louis smiled at him, when they all sang together.

_What do you think about ‘One Direction’ for a name?_

The replies are instantaneous and unanimous.

 _one direction_ , says Louis. _more like one erection._

 _I like it_ , is all Zayn says. _It’s like, poetic._

 _It’s gonna sound sick when the announcer says it,_ says Niall.

 _:)_ , says Liam.

Harry just grins. Louis’ sent him a few winking faces, and then an addendum of, _that’s not very accurate, though. we’ve all got erections and there’s five of us._

Harry giggles. _Good thing we’re One Direction, then, yeah?_

_yeah!_

He texts the four of them, _So it’s settled, then. We’re One Direction._

Harry can’t wait for the bungalow.

\--

**August 2010**

\--

“Pretty sure it’s just a cow, mate,” says Zayn. He’s on one of the sofas, Fikriyya curled up in his lap, looking incredibly pleased about that fact.

Harry’s got Louis bundled into his side on the other sofa, one hand wrapped in a loose cage around his bare ankle. Louis’ skin is very warm, but Harry’s not thinking about it. Niall had dared them to always be touching a few hours back, as some sort of misguided attempt at reverse psychology that Harry is pleased to say had not worked. He’s not sure where Liana is, but he can hear her whispering to Tiamat like a buzz in the back of his head.

Liam is next to Zayn, and he looks by far the most concerned. “I dunno…” he says, brow furrowing.

Niall ended up on the floor a few minutes ago when Louis made him laugh so hard that Harry wasn’t sure he was even breathing, and he raises his head. “Payno,” he says, adopting Louis’ nickname. He’s taken to them the most--Payno, Tommo, Zayno. That last one lasted about a second; Harry’s not sure which was scarier, Zayn’s face, or Fi’s. Either way, Liam seems to like it, even if he does startle a bit each time it’s used. “If you’re so worried, I dare you to go check it out,” Niall finishes saying.

Louis make a noise of protest. “It’s not your turn,” he points out. Tiamat pops up from behind the sofa as a wolf. Liana is on her head.

“Cheater,” she tells Harry.

He shakes his head. “Pretty sure we gave up on turns a few hours ago, Lou,” he replies, shifting a little on the sofa to get more comfortable. He has to let go of Louis’ ankle, and settles for grabbing hold of his hair. It’s just as soft as it always looks, and also Louis flinches a little, blue eyes darting to meet Harry’s.

“But, H,” he whines.

Harry ignores him. “I second Niall’s dare,” he says. He agrees with Zayn, for sure, since there’s no way the noise was human made and they are in the middle of Holmes Chapel so it being a cow is not out of the question. It doesn’t hurt to be sure, though.

“You can’t second dares,” Zayn tries to protest, but at this point Louis gets on board, kneeling on the sofa and nodding furiously.

“Yeah, go make the like the strapping fireman-to-be that you are and investigate, Liam,” he says.

When he moves, Harry’s hand gets dislodged, and he very quickly wraps Louis up in an awkward hug before Niall can call him out on it.

Niall manages to point at the two of them with his mouth open wide, and Harry grins. “Ha,” he tells him, resting his chin on Louis’ shoulder. “You were saying?” He turns back to Zayn.

The other boy sighs. “Fine,” he concedes. “Liam?”

Liam shakes his head and starts grumbling something about how he’s not actually going to be a firefighter anymore, seeing as they’re definitely going to win the X-Factor, but he gets up anyway. Harry’s less inclined to believe him about the X-Factor thing, but they had sung a tiny bit in the beginning, before Louis’d made use of his being eighteen and supplied them with alcohol.

“If I die,” Liam tells the room, “Tell Simon I told him so.” Bethania appears at his side and gives a good shake.

Louis frowns. “Why would I tell Simon Cowell I told him so?” he asks. “I never told Simon Cowell anything at all--like beyond my name is Louis Tomlinson and I’m sorry about what I’m about to do to this song by the Plain White T-s.”

Harry snorts. “You didn’t even say that, Lou,” he says, but it’s lost in the noise of Liam putting on his shoes.

“No, tell him I--Like, I, Liam James Payne, told him so because he said I was too young that first time.” He meets Louis’ eyes hopefully, and seems to deflate. “Never mind.”

“Your middle name is James?” pipes up Niall. “So’s mine!”

Zayn looks between them. “Weird,” he says.

“Mine’s William,” Louis perks up. “What about you, Hazza, are we also long lost middle name twins?”

Harry blinks. “It’s Edward,” he says slowly. “Long lost middle name twins?”

Louis nods seriously. “It’s an elite club,” he says. “We have weekly meeting on Wednesdays.”

“What, anyone who has the same middle name as another person or specifically people with William?” Zayn asks, voice dry as a bone.

Louis seems to look at him properly for the first time, before grinning. “You know, I never thought to ask,” he says. “I’ll be sure to do that next time.”

“Next Wednesday,” Zayn clarifies.

“Next Wednesday.”

They grin at each other. Tiamat peeks back over the sofa and nudges Fi with her nose.

Liam finishes doing up his shoes. “Right,” he says. “Wish me luck.”

Louis twists around on the sofa to shout at him. “Luck!” he calls.

They wait a bit, before each getting to their feet and going for the door, propping it open a bit and watching Liam make his way into the wilds of Holmes Chapel.

“Hello?” he says quietly.

“No one can hear you, Payne!” Louis shouts after him, giggling when that makes Liam jump. He’s gripping Harry by the shoulders, but Harry’s pretty sure that’s just a Louis thing, and not because of the dare. He likes it, likes how they fit together.

“Hello?”

“Better,” Louis breathes, only to Harry. “Still needs work.”

Harry giggles at him.

“Is anyone out there?” Liam continues to say. “We, um--if you’re injured we could maybe help you?”

“Real giver that Liam Payne,” Louis says. Then, a bit louder, “Of course we’ll help you strange-man who-is-probably-a-cow!” he shouts. “Don’t let Liam’s hesitance get you down! The Tommo’ll save you.”

“The Tommo’ll make me go deaf, rather,” Harry corrects, wincing. He draws back from Louis so he’s not crowing in his ear.

“Sorry.” Louis grins.

Harry can’t help but grin back.

“Anyone?” Liam waits a bit, and then they can all hear the rustling as he starts trudging back towards the house.

Immediately they all leap for the sofa, ending up tangled in a pile of limbs as they try to make themselves look like the picture of ease and comfort.

Liam pauses in the doorway and just blinks.

“Hi,” Harry says eventually. “So, was it a cow?”

Liam just stares at them for a moment. “Probably?” he says after a bit. “I mean, it wasn’t a man, I’m fairly sure.”

Harry smiles back at him. He’s basically on top of Louis and Niall at this point, and when he glances to the left he can see out of the corner of his eye that not even Zayn has managed to get away unscathed. He looks less uncomfortable with how Louis’ got an arm draped around his shoulders, though.

“Okay, then,” Liam says quietly. “Um, I’m a little tired?”

Harry considers this. “Me too,” he says.

“Me three,” says Niall from somewhere near his left foot.

“Four.” Louis’ voice comes from right behind Harry’s right ear, and he twitches.

“Five,” says Zayn.

They don’t move for a bit.

Until Harry breaks it. “Um, not to be the odd one out,” he says, a little embarrassed. “But the bungalow doesn’t have a key and like--”

Louis starts talking before he can finish. “We should bring the mattresses down here and have a proper sleepover,” he says. “Not that I’m scared.”

The rest of the boys chorus out their affirmatives, before Zayn points out, “It’s probably just a cow, though.”

They all mull that over, but get the mattresses, blankets, and pillows anyway, Liam and Zayn very seriously discussing the likelihood of their unwanted guest joining them. Niall and Louis appear to be having an equally serious staring contest to determine who has to carry the most things back down stairs.

Harry’s left with Liana and Tiamat, oddly enough, as they all go thundering up.

“It’s a cow,” Liana tells him, nudging at him till he picks her up.

Louis’ daemon seems to nod a bit, before she goes skidding for the stairs too--so she’s still affected by distance, despite the unsettled thing, which rules out Louis being some sort of magical being. Unless he’s faking it.

“Hey, Lou!” he shouts up the stairs.

“Yeah?”

“You’re not magic, are you?”

Louis doesn’t even wait a beat. “No!”

Harry sighs. “Shame!”

After a moment, Niall calls down to him, “You two are weird,” which just serves to make Harry smile even harder.

They get the mattresses set up with minimal grumbling, Louis mostly directing, Liam mostly doing, and Zayn quietly claiming the sofa as his own bed. Harry and Niall mostly stumble around following Louis’ instructions and try to stay out of Liam’s way.

Eventually they manage it.

 “Awesome,” Louis says, looking down at the bed. “I have to say this is my best yet.”

Liam gapes at him, completely taken aback, and Harry doesn’t have to do more than meet Zayn and Niall’s eyes before they’re tackling them both onto the mattresses with a shrill battle cry.

\--

Later, when they’ve brushed their teeth and said their goodnights and are lying awkwardly in the dark trying not to think about how it might not be a cow, Louis rolls over so that he’s facing Harry.

“I’m glad I met you, Harry,” he says, like he’s absolutely certain. And then, almost shyly, he leans a bit and kisses Harry once on the cheek, before rolling back over.

Harry’s left reeling, heart thundering in his chest, while Liana shakes against his chest. “You, um, too,” he manages a bit weakly into the silence, and he’s not sure how he knows, but he’s pretty sure that Louis is smiling.

\--

So, Louis kissed him on the cheek. Harry can work with that. Louis was just a very touchy-feely type of person, which Harry had no problems with whatsoever. He was always pro cuddle. And they’d immediately clicked and hit it off. Like, best mates can kiss each other on the cheek, he’s pretty sure. And it wasn’t like it’d been a dramatic, on-the-lips relationship type kiss. For all Harry knows, Louis could have been intending to hug him, and Harry’d ruined that by moving just slightly so his lips ended up bumping against his cheek. That could happen. That’s certainly a reasonable explanation for it.

“That’s absolutely not an reasonable explanation for it,” Liana tells him. She’s somewhere under Harry’s bed again, and Harry’s starting to worry that she’s actually reading the porn.

“But, Li,” he whines, gripping at his pillow where he’s got it clutched against his chest. That’s a bit weird now that he knows Liam, actually.

Liana seems to agree. “Never call me that again,” she tells him, emerging from under the bed and spitting something out in Harry’s bedroom rubbish bin.

Harry frowns. “What are you doing?” he says, confused.

Liana just hums at him, distracted, and attempts to try a running leap in hopes that she can get on the bed. She gets close enough that Harry doesn’t have to get up to help her. “Oh, I’m doing you a favor.”

Harry stares at her, still uncertain, before he’s scrambling to get under the bed. “Liana,” he says, aghast.

His daemon scowls at him. “Oh, come off it, H,” she says, adopting one of Louis’ nicknames for him. Something warm blooms in Harry’s chest. “You know as well as I that the only thing you ever did with those was look at them, then Robin, then blush, and then hide them under your bed while mum laughed at us.”

Harry has to give it to her--that is exactly what happened.

“Phaneul wouldn’t leave me alone for ages,” Liana continues, sounding personally offended.

Harry remembers that. Their mother’s daemon hadn’t been able to stop laughing for weeks, and between him and Anne herself, Harry had been in a perpetual state of redness.

Not to mention Gemma. Harry is so happy she’s going to be off at university soon.

“Yeah, well,” he protests. “That doesn’t mean you should _eat_ it.”

Liana shakes her head. “You want to take it downstairs and shred it in the office?” she says. “Or just recycle it?”

Harry pauses. “Right, yes,” he says. “Eating it is a good idea.”

Liana looks smug. Then, she climbs up on top of the pillow. “Now, what about Louis?”

Harry groans. “Aeliana,” he whines.

She keeps crawling until her claws meet skin. “Louis,” she repeats. “What are we going to do about Louis?”

Harry debates using the pillow to smother himself. Or maybe Liana. Yeah, that’s doable. He grabs her with both hands and pulls her up so that she’s sprawled across his face.

“What are you doing?” she asks, amused.

“Dying,” Harry tells her. “Wake me when we’re on the other side.”

Liana sighs. “Harry,” she says. “It’s not the end of the world.”

Harry opens an eye to narrow it. “It so is,” he complains. “The world is ending, Li, leave me.”

“Well, if you insist,” says his daemon. “Also, if you’re going to keep calling me that I’m going to just assume you miss Liam most.” She untangles from Harry’s face and jumps off the bed.

Harry goes scrambling after her. “No, wait, Liana, come back,” he calls, a bit desperate. He ends up on his stomach with his arms outstretched. “Ughh.” He collapses, letting his head drop down against his duvet and muffle the noise. God just--Harry doesn’t know what to do with the way Louis puts butterflies in his stomach. Prior to Louis, Harry hadn’t even known it would actually feel like that, all jittery and buzzing and twisting around his insides until he’s dizzy. He’s pretty sure it’s a good dizzy, but he can’t really be sure.

“What do I do?” he asks Liana, voice hoarse. “We.” He swallows. “Louis.”

“Talk to him,” says his daemon, from beside his ear. Harry moves his head so that he can see her, clear, dark eyes shining with concern and affection, and forgoes the pillow in favor of hugging her to his chest.

He can tell that Liana wants to pursue the conversation, but she very wisely stays silent, letting their heartbeats and breathing fall into quiet sync.

\--

**September 2010**

\--

The situation comes to a head a few weeks later, when Liana interrupts Harry mid-melodramatic tweet by hopping up on top of his laptop and chest. Harry meets her eyes head on and raises one eyebrow. “Yes?”

His daemon twitches her nose at him. “You’re embarrassing,” she tells him, point-blank.

Harry wonders if it would be worth it to reach around her and shut the laptop. They as good as share a brain, though, so probably not.

Liana shoots him an unimpressed look. “[Bruno Mars](https://twitter.com/Harry_Styles/status/23993632821), really?” she says. “ _Really_?”

Harry flushes a little. “What’s wrong with it?” he says. “It’s a good song.”

Liana rolls her eyes. “It’s right sappy, Harold,” she says, and, well. Even Harry’s daemon is adopting Louis’ speech patterns; it’s safe to say that he’s also probably right fucked.

“You of all people should know that’s not my name,” Harry tells her, because it’s safer to do so.

Liana snorts. “Focus on that, would you,” she says. “This is an intervention.”

Harry blinks. “What do you mean?”

Liana looks pointedly at Harry’s laptop.

“What?’

“Bruno. Mars,” Liana repeats.

Harry blinks.

“Oh, for God’s sake,” Liana mutters, but she clambers off of him and curls up in an angry ball. “I’m going to sleep, wake me when you feel like being reasonable.”

\--

Harry wonders if it counts as being reasonable to continue tweeting sappy songs. It’s nearing supper time and Harry is lying in his bed with the light off tweeting song lyrics.

He goes to nudge Liana.

“Unless you’ve had a change of heart and have decided to see reason, I’m not talking to you,” says his daemon.

Harry snorts. “Mature of you,” he says.

Liana cackles. “You’re one to talk,” she retorts.

Harry doesn’t see fit to deem that worthy of a response, and if he types the lyrics to [The Script’s ](https://twitter.com/Harry_Styles/status/24306590367)_[The First Time](https://twitter.com/Harry_Styles/status/24306590367) _ a little harder and more vindictively than his laptop keyboard probably deserves, no one’s around to see him.

\--

Harry’s just finished hitting the send button for a [third time](https://twitter.com/Harry_Styles/status/24396437014), when Liana gives up on waiting him out and slams his laptop shut.

“Aeliana!” Harry shrieks, more than a little startled and concerned for the state of his laptop.

His daemon ignores his use of her given name in favor of walking up his chest so that she can glare into his eyes.

“Harry Edward Styles,” she says. “It has been three days. This needs to stop. You have two options.”

Harry swallows but quirks his head at her to continue.

“One,” she says, “You can call Louis.”

Harry opens his mouth to protest.

“Or, two,” Liana continues, unperturbed. “You can text Niall.”

Harry’s mouth swings open again. “Wait, why Niall?” he says, which wasn’t what he wanted to say in the first place, but you know. Liana’s his daemon. She’s not going to judge him.

Not too much, at least.

“I thought maybe Liam,” Liana is saying, “but he might actually try to give us actual advice, and you’re more likely to balk at that than anything else--”

“Hey,” Harry tries to protest.

Liana ignores him, but she also gets off of Harry’s chest and leaps onto the floor, so he’s not complaining. “Also, Zayn’s probably sleeping--”

“It’s the middle of the afternoon?”

“And obviously Louis is out,” Liana’s voice comes, from somewhere over by Harry’s desk. “So as you can see there’s really no one else _but_ Niall.” She finishes whatever it is she’s doing and makes a pleased noise in the back of her throat. “So unless you’ve been tweeting love songs as some sort of bizarre personal training and are now feeling up to confessing--”

“Ha, yes, let me just call the object of my affections up right now and tell him I’m deeply in love with him,” Harry scoffs, interrupting. “What would I even say--‘Hey, Lou, so, I’m sort of in love with you?’--That’ll go down like a sack of shit.”

There’s a beat.

“Hang on, what?” comes Niall’s voice, from Harry’s mobile, which Liana has somehow managed to grab and dial with her paws. “Say that again?”

Harry gapes. “How,” he says, not sure if he should be appalled, or amazed that Liana has somehow mastered the art of the mobile phone.

“Don’t look at me,” she says.

“Harry?” says Niall. “Um.”

“Niall, hi!” Harry manages finally. “How are you?”

There’s another pause. “Erm,” says Niall. “Very well, thanks?” His accent’s a lot stronger than Harry’d remembered it. “And you?”

Harry opens his mouth to say something about how he’s fine, but missing the boys and excited for the live shows. “I’m in love with Louis,” Harry says.

Niall, to his credit, recovers a bit more quickly this time. “Right, okay,” he says. “Are you--like, it’s been two months--”

“Liana settled the moment we met him,” Harry blurts, the realization dawning on him suddenly and leaving him breathless. “I-- _Niall_.” He’s lightheaded and dazed, but it’s glorious. “Niall--Liana _settled when we met him_.”

“Yeah.” Niall sounds amused. “I mean, pretty sure everyone on the show knows, mate.” There’s a rustling over the line, like Niall’s moving the phone. “You should have heard Lou go on about it--if it wasn’t incredibly sweet, I think Zayn would have murdered him.”

Harry’s in love with Louis. Like, objectively, he knew that. Evidently his soul knew months ago, in the X-Factor toilets, and while Harry was busy making a fool of himself in front of the love of his life, Liana was busy telling him that Louis was _it_ for him.

“--Proper murder, too,” Niall continues saying, even as Harry has a mild existential crisis. “Tiamat was a moth, I think, because as nice as your stepdad’s bungalow was, H, the loo was tiny, and I think Fi was this close to swallowing her.”

Harry is in love with _Louis--_ “What?”

“What?” Niall repeats.

“Fi was going to do what?”

“Not important.” Niall probably waves a hand or something. “You were saying about being in love with Louis?”

“Right,” Harry says. “Yes, that.”

Liana looks at him expectantly.

“Um. Do you think--I mean, he told me he was glad he met me, but--”

“He likes you back, H, was the point of that story,” Niall says finally. “Zayn’s daemon wasn’t actually going to eat Louis’.”

Harry blinks. “Zayn’s daemon did what?”

“Ugh, Harry,” Niall whines, and then he hangs up.

Harry is left staring down at his phone confused. “What just happened?” he asks Liana finally.

His daemon looks up at him blankly. “Really?” she says.

Harry blinks at her for a few more moments, before dialing Louis.

“‘lo?”

“Louis?” Harry pointedly ignores the way Liana is doing some sort of celebratory dance on his bed and accidentally shoves her off it. “Did Fi try to eat Tiamat?”

Louis is silent for a second. “ _Horan_ ,” he hisses, and then he also hangs up.

Harry is left more than a little lost, more than a little in love, and entirely too confused for this early in the evening.

“Don’t look at me,” says Liana.

Twelve hours later, Harry blinks awake blearily to his phone telling him that [Niall’s tweeted Louis](https://twitter.com/NiallOfficial/status/24411313146),  and he can’t even be bothered about that.

\--

He doesn’t see Louis and the other boys until they all move into the X-Factor House a few days later, where [they](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jcz09Kj0nAY) [do a twitcam](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nQoCJhctYA) in preparation for the episode airing. [Harry](https://twitter.com/Harry_Styles/status/25678947310) ends up sat on a sofa with [Louis](https://twitter.com/Louis_Tomlinson/status/25676032369), laughing so hard his sides hurt, while Tiamat plays the shape game with the rest of the lads. 

X-Factor is going to be amazing.

\--

**October 2010**

\--

It’s the second week of live shows, and Tiamat still hasn’t settled. It’s not like Harry’s keeping track or anything, but it’s rather hard not to notice. Unlike Harry, who’d only had to have that one awkward interview where he explained the reason for his daemon’s change between his boot camp audition and the first live show, Louis and Tiamat have always been in the spotlight. It’s practically unheard of for someone to have an unsettled daemon at age eighteen, so obviously the media could not let it go. Louis, of course, had been rather amused by the whole thing, and for the first few days, he’d taken to making Tiamat change forms for every photo. And sure, some awful things were said--people poking into Louis’ family history and making claims that Tiamat wasn’t ever going to settle--but for the most part everything had been pretty laid back.

It helped that from the very beginning of them being put together as a group, Louis had gone out of his way to be the most outgoing, confident one of them. People were always going to be calling him and Tiamat immature, he’d told Harry, that first night, lying side by side because neither of them were used to sleeping away from home. Louis thought it was better to pretend like it didn’t bother him. Which wasn’t to say that it did, because Harry’s never met anyone quite as confident as Louis.

Only, it’s the second week of live shows, mid October, and almost two months away from Louis’ nineteenth birthday. Needless to say, Louis hasn’t been able to sit still for days. Harry’s totally sympathetic about that, because he can’t imagine another two years with Liana unsettled, but it doesn’t stop him from wanting to murder Louis when he wakes him at some godforsaken hour for a prank.

“I’m not awake,” Harry says, not opening an eye. Maybe he can pretend he’s still ill, or something? “Go away.” He can feel Liana where she’s curled up on his naked chest. Vaguely, he’s aware of Tiamat flying around her head in the form of a bird, but he ignores that.

He debates rolling over.

“Come on, Hazza, I know that’s a lie,” Louis whines. He’s somewhat relentless as he goes about poking and prodding whatever part of Harry he can reach. Seeing as Harry is entirely naked and most of the duvet is at the foot of the bed, there’s a lot of Harry for him to reach.

“No,” Harry tells him. “Sleeping.”

“ _Hazza_ \--” Louis starts to say, Tiamat landing on Liana’s head and pecking her once. Harry’s daemon makes an irritated noise and slides off of Harry’s chest so that she’s pressed against his hip and the wall. This doesn’t seem to deter Tiamat, who goes to follow her.

Harry makes an unintelligible noise in response, before reaching out a hand and grabbing Louis, hauling him onto the bed.

“Wha--Harry--” says Louis.

Harry doesn’t give him time to respond, wrapping an arm and leg around the other boy in a manner similar to an octopus. “Stay,” he tells Louis’ hair and goes to go back to sleep.

A few beats later, Louis still hasn’t relaxed a muscle. “Um, Harry?” he says, barely more than a whisper.

Harry blinks open an eye so that he can frown at him. “Mmm?”

“You’re naked,” Louis tells him.

It takes Harry a few seconds for that to sink in, and then he’s going just as rigid as Louis. They haven’t been this close since Louis kissed him on the cheek in the bungalow.

At his back, he can feel Liana starting to wake up a bit more. She yawns, loud in the sudden silence, before Harry feels the pinprick of her claws as she crawls over his bicep to look down at the two of them. “Huh,” she says. “You really are.”

Harry angles a glare at her. “Thanks,” he tells her, sourly.

His daemon doesn’t bat an eyelid. “Hey, I’m not the one seducing my best mate,” she says, and Harry knows for a fact that she’s choosing her words for specific effect.

“I am not seducing him!” Harry protests, voice high and squeaky.

“Um,” says Louis.

“You are too,” Liana replies. “You are naked, he is not. You are wrapped around him like some sort of oversized octopus--albeit a rather flesh colored and curly octopus but an octopus--”

“That’s not a terrifying image at all,” says Tiamat, dryly, from somewhere over Louis’ shoulder.

“--And he hasn’t breathed in at least ten seconds so yes!” Liana finishes. “You are seducing him!” She points an accusatory paw at Harry. “I am ashamed to be attached to you.”

There is a very awkward moment of silence.

Finally, Harry breaks it. “I’d get off you,” he tells Louis. “However I don’t think I know how to move my limbs anymore.”

Louis remains silent for another few seconds. “Right,” he says. “I’ll just, um, stay here, then.”

“Sure,” Harry says hoarsely. He concentrates very hard on not strangling his daemon. That would be bad--if he strangled her, he’d only be causing himself harm. Although, if he strangled her, probably he’d pass out, and honestly that would be a blessing at this point.

“But, um,” Louis goes on to add. “Best mate?”

Harry blinks. “What?”

“You, um,” Louis says. “I mean Liana said--I mean, not that I was listening--um, shit.” Harry can only tell because they’re literally nose to nose, but Louis’ actually blushing. “Bollocks,” he mutters.

Harry’s brow furrows. “Lou,” he says slowly. “You can talk to her.”

Louis is definitely blushing now. “Really?” he gets out, voice high. “I mean, thanks?”

Tiamat comes into view in the form of a shorthaired cat, crawling up onto the bed so that she can put a paw over Louis’ mouth. He keeps talking despite this.

“I’m incredibly flattered, Harold,” he says, in his serious voice. It’s the one he’s just started using for the video diaries; the one that makes Liam dig his fingers into Bethania’s fur and pretend that he’s not bothered by; the one Zayn always grins at; the one that Niall can’t seem to stop laughing about; the one that makes Harry’s heart pound. Though, to be fair, most things Louis does make Harry’s heart pound.

It occurs to him that not only has Louis continued speaking, but these are not things Harry should be thinking when naked with a leg thrown over Louis’ hip. Which--

Harry is naked and has a leg thrown over Louis’ hip. Probably he should do something about that.

“Yes,” says Liana. “Please do.”

Harry doesn’t dignify her with a response, but he does very gently untangle himself from Louis and wiggle backwards on the bed so that he’s pressed against the wall. It’s cold against his bare back.

“No, but.” Louis doesn’t move from where he’s lying in Harry’s bed. Tiamat and Liana have moved to the foot of the bed and are curled up whispering. Harry would be worried about that, if he weren’t somewhat distracted by how very long Louis’ eyelashes are. “There are rules about that, H.”

Harry shakes his head. “About what?”

“About talking to me, genius,” says Liana.

Harry shifts his feet so that he can kick at her under the duvet. He gets Tiamat in the process, and even though the touch is muted by the cover of the blankets, Harry freezes.

“Shit,” he says, voice barely there. “Sorry.”

Louis moves forward on the bed so they’re nose to nose again. “Harold,” he says. “You just gave me permission to speak to your daemon. I think accidentally kicking mine _through_ a blanket is small, comparatively.”

Harry is frozen. Because _eyelashes_ ,

“Harold.”

He swallows. “Not, um, my name, Lou,” he manages, with a small smile.

Louis grins right back. “So you keep telling me,” he tells him, putting an arm around Harry’s arm and playing with the curls on the back of his neck.

At the end of the bed, Tiamat starts grooming Liana. She’s a cat again, this time a little larger with uneven stripes and blue eyes.

Louis looks down at her curiously. “Huh,” he says. “Close.”

“But not quite,” his daemon finishes. The two of them share a secret look, ears twitching and eyes blinking, and Harry yawns.

“Yay,” he says. “You’re a cat.” He pushes back into Louis’ hand. “Now keep petting.”

Louis chuckles, but does as asked. “I’m pretty sure you’re the one who’s a cat, Hazza,” he murmurs, but Harry is already half asleep.

\--

Tiamat spends the next week taking on the shape of every single cat known to man, and then some. By the time they’ve finished their second performance, and miraculously been voted through, yet again, she’s started in on the made up ones. Like hybrids, and things that Harry’s only ever seen in books. Liana had spent a week as a dragon when Harry was younger, but ultimately Harry had found that odd. Louis, by contrast, is taking it all in stride.

“What do you think about a saber-toothed tiger?” he says, very loudly, into Harry’s ear one morning. Harry just groans, rolls over, and tries not to notice that he’s got an erection.

“Louis,” he whines. “Stop talking.”

The other boys seems to agree, making varying noises of displeasure, muffled from Niall’s bunk, non-existent from Zayn’s, and unfairly awake from Liam’s.

Harry groans again and sighs, giving up when Louis starts shifting next to him in the bed. He’s not falling asleep now.

“Harry?” Louis whispers into the shell of his ear. “What do you think?

Harry rolls over and blinks down at Louis blearily, scratching idly at his stomach. “About what?” he says around a yawn.

Liana emerges from under the covers and yawns as well, before resting her head right next to one of Harry’s extra nipples and blinking up at Louis.

The other boy isn’t saying anything

“Lou?” Harry prompts, stretching a little.

Louis startles, looking visibly flushed, and his eyes dart everywhere around the room, settling back on Harry’s chest for a brief second, before he flicks them back up to meet Harry’s own curious gaze. “Um,” he says.

“What do I think about…” Harry prompts, bringing up a hand to rub at his eyes. What time is it?

“The sun’s not up,” says Liana, helpfully, from his side.

“I know,” says Niall, sounding incredibly sad about this fact. “But now I’m hungry.” He heaves himself upright and glares at Louis. “You owe me breakfast,” he tells him, pointing a finger. Eirian shakes a little and uncurls from the pallet almost under Niall’s bed.

Above him, Zayn and Fikriyya don’t even stir.

“Fair,” Louis says quickly. He sounds almost glad for the excuse to look away from Harry, and Harry can’t help the little whine that comes out of his throat.

It catches Tiamat’s attention instantly and she leaps up onto the bed, a move that she didn’t go over with Louis, probably, since his attention snaps back onto Harry like a rubber band. “Ti,” he hisses.

Harry just yawns. “A saber-toothed tiger?” he asks, to be clear, trying to get the conversation back on track. He ignores Louis’ muttering with his daemon in favor of watching as Niall and Eirian discuss outfits for the day.

“Oh, um, yeah,” Louis says, still a little flushed. “Yay or nay?”

Harry mulls it over. “I mean, what could go wrong?”

\--

“Eat your words,” hisses Liana, several hours later, while Harry tries his hardest not to laugh hysterically at the way all of Fikriyya’s hair is standing on end. “Eat them, Harry, I will bite you in your sleep--”

“I’m sorry!” Louis yelps out, between equally breathless giggles. He’s got both of his hands up to protect his face from Zayn, who looks about three seconds from pummeling him with his own fists.

Harry thinks he should probably be concerned, but mostly he can’t breathe. 

“It’s just,” Louis continues, even as Zayn growls low in his throat and Fi shakes viciously. “Your _face_!”

“What’s wrong with my face?” says Zayn. Fi winds around his legs and glowers at Tiamat, who hasn’t moved from where she collapsed across Louis’ feet several minutes prior.

“Nothing,” Harry hurries to say, because they actually have to film their video diary later in the day, not to mention the charity single, and Zayn murdering Louis for scaring the living daylights out of him would not be good. Not that it was all that terrifying, really, so much as startling. Harry hadn’t known what saber-toothed tigers sounded like when they roared. He does now, as does most of the crew, and probably everyone else in the house. Also, Harry’s pretty sure his heartbeat still hasn’t returned to normal.

Fikriyya’s eyes turn to glare at Liana, who lifts her chin right back.

Louis appears to have gathered himself enough and is no longer gasping for breath.

Harry elbows him in the side.

“Right, yes.” Louis shoots Harry a look, rubbing at his ribs. “There’s absolutely nothing wrong with your face, Zayn.”

Zayn stares at them for a while longer, before Fi’s fur settles back down and she climbs back up onto his shoulders.

Harry is reminded that she shot a good few feet into the air when Tiamat first roared, and has to stifle his laughter.

Louis must notice, because if possible, he grins even wider. “What do you think of Ti, though,” he continues, lifting his brows a few times at Harry before turning back to Zayn. “Yay or nay?”

Zayn’s lips twitch. “What, forever?” he says dryly. “Bit too extinct for you, Tommo, innit?”

Louis considers that. “Dunno…” he says, gazing down at his daemon curiously. She rolls over onto her back and regards him with equal concentration.

“I think it’s unique,” Liana pipes up, and Harry rushes to voice this opinion as well, before things can get awkward.

To his credit, Zayn just glances between the two of them silently. “True,” he agrees. “But, like, the teeth would get annoying, I’d think.”

Louis reaches out and taps one; Tiamat snarls.

“You’d end up poking holes in all sorts of things.”

Louis’ head comes up and his eyes are practically sparkling. “You’d know all about holes, wouldn’t you, Mr. Malik?” he says.

Zayn rolls his eyes. “Definitely not you,” he tells them, stepping past them to continue on his way. “Saber-toothed tigers are far too majestic for the likes of you.”

Louis makes an affronted noise, says, “How dare you!” while pointing at Zayn’s vanishing back, but is still grinning when he reaches over to drag Harry towards him in a headlock. “You think I’m majestic, right, H?”

Harry can’t help the way he smiles back in response. “I dunno,” he starts to say, before Louis acts wounded and goes to tickle him.“I lied--she’s perfect!” he protests, even as Louis gets his fingers into his sides and drums them against his ribcage.

Louis looks pleased. “See,” he tells anyone around them, which turns out to not be many people. “At least I have Harry.” He hugs him, pressing his nose into Harry’s curls and smiling.

This isn’t really helping Harry’s heartbeat problem, so Liana drops down onto Tiamat in an attempt to distract her and Louis. It works.

Louis lets go of Harry with a squawk, Tiamat blinks down at Liana with curious eyes, and Harry manages to catch his breath.

“No, but, Louis,” he says. “You shouldn’t push it--it’ll happen whenever.”

Tiamat looks at Liana for a while longer, before switching into a smaller house cat before Harry can blink, unseating Liana and leaving her grumbling on the floor.

He scoops her up.

“What?”

Like Louis doesn’t know.

“She’ll settle whenever,” Harry clarifies feeling a little bit out of his element. Louis is looking at him in a way that makes him want to shuffle his feet. “Like, when she--at the--”

“If you say ‘at the right time’, I will hit you,” Louis tells him, but he doesn’t sound all that serious.

Harry snorts, but remains silent, crossing his arms across his chest to have something to do. Liana curls around the back of his neck like an overprotective scarf.

“I mean, I know,” Louis continues, eyes softening. “But I’ll be nineteen soon.”

Harry scoffs. “In two months,” he argues. “You have plenty of time.” He tries to school his features into something less reminiscent of worry, going for something closer to ‘concerned friend,’ and not, ‘if you kissed me right this moment I would probably kiss back and maybe get on my knees if you asked.’

Louis sighs. “It doesn’t really bother me, Hazza, honest. Don’t worry,” he says. “I just wish people would stop talking about it.”

There it is.

“Like Liam,” Harry confirms, to be sure.

Louis wilts. “Yeah,” he admits quietly. “And, um, my mum called me the other day.”

Harry frowns. “Oh.” He knows that Louis and his mum are very close, and they talk every day. Harry himself has called Anne several times since the show started, mostly towards the beginning when what he had hoped was simply an embarrassing crush decided it wanted to be all consuming lust. But that sucks. Having anyone who loves you imply something about you is broken is never fun.

“That bad?”

Louis sighs. “No, she…” he trails off. “I think she worries about me, is all,” he decides. “Like, people...say...things.”

Harry winces. “Oh,” he says quietly. He’s pretty sure that all of the boys have done their initial googling of themselves, and the band in general, but Louis’ by far gotten the most backlash. It’s definitely because Tiamat is unsettled, which Harry and Louis and all of the rest of the band _know_ , on some level, but it’s still a bit of a mess. There are polls online, trying to guess when and what she’ll settle as. Harry hasn’t checked back, but he’s pretty sure Louis has, if the less than subtle tweets he’s been making about Tiamat liking cat forms has anything to say about that.

Louis shrugs. “I’m not bothered,” he says again. “She’ll settle when she’s ready,” he adds, nudging Tiamat with the toe of a shoe. “I just wish it wasn’t such a big deal.”

Harry wonders if they should go somewhere else to have this conversation. “Do you want me to talk to Liam?” he asks, worrying a bit at his bottom lip. He knows it’s not Liam’s fault that they’re getting tweets about their daemons more now, because he’d been there for the talk that Simon had had with them about One Direction’s continued success on the show and about building a brand, but he also knows it’s not Louis’ fault that he and Tiamat are always getting left out for those questions.

“No, I--” says Louis quickly. “I’m sure it’ll stop soon.” He doesn’t sound convinced, but Harry knows better than to push.

“Okay,” he says. “What do you think is stopping her--”

“Nothing, Harry, honestly,” Louis snaps quickly, and immediately Harry feels heat rush to his cheeks.

“Okay,” he says again, voice smaller.

Louis immediately looks ashamed. “Oh, Haz,” he says, stepping closer. “Don’t look at me like that--sorry.” He sighs. “Didn’t mean to take it out on you.” He hugs him, and Harry has to work very hard not to hold on for too long.

“It’s okay,” he says, words tumbling together, buried in Louis’ hair. “I get it.”

Louis pulls back and looks at him for a long while with an odd look in his eyes, before visibly deflating. “Yeah,” he says. “But at least I know she’s supposed to be a cat?”

Harry manages to smile at him. “That’s true,” he says with as much cheer as he can muster. “And just think, when she settles I’m sure she’ll be the awesomest cat ever.”

“Awesomest cat ever,” Louis repeats, smiling widely. “Not the most logical conclusion, H.”

Harry shakes his head. “Yeah, but since when are you logical?” he says.

Louis laughs. “Right, okay.” He reaches out and squeezes Harry’s hand in his own, once, before tugging him off back towards the stairwell. “Wanna go pull funny faces at Cher?” he says. “She’s probably started filming.”

“Absolutely.”

\--

As it turns out, having a saber-toothed tiger for a daemon is less than helpful when you have to film a video diary in an incredibly tiny space. Harry feels bad for the poor people tasked with filming them, who not only have to keep the five of them on point, but now have Eirian, Bethania, and also Tiamat to accommodate on the tiny stairwell. Eirian and Bethania, at least, are used to the cramped quarters. Also, their personas doesn’t feature putting on costumes and talking in funny voices.

Tiamat ends up out of frame, resting half on Louis’ feet and almost-but-not quite touching Harry, while her ridiculous excuse for a human slaps a hand to Harry’s forehead and proclaims him still feverish. He’s got something equally absurd on his head this time. He’s also a song, apparently. Niall finds everything hilarious.

Louis ends up nearly resting his head on Harry’s shoulder, before pulling away to hide a grin, and Harry sucks in a breath and hides his own smile.

“Look,” Liana whispers to him, as Zayn talks about how they love the attention from the fans, but aren’t allowed to stop anymore because of the size of the crowds. “He’s practically glowing--stop being an _idiot_ \--”

Harry just ignores her and adds something about how they wouldn’t be there without said fans, while the rest of them nod along like they haven’t been media trained, and hopes the microphones didn’t catch any of Liana’s words.

When they’re finished, Louis drapes an arm around Harry’s neck and pulls him in close. “Sadly,” he tells him, “I don’t think we’re a saber-toothed tiger.”

Harry grins. “Shame,” he says. “That would’ve been cool.”

Louis mock glares at him, before shoving him away and into Liam. “You wound me, Styles,” he says, but he’s laughing.

Liam puts a hand on Harry’s shoulders and sets him back on his feet. “Sorry,” Harry tells him, sparing him a quick glance. Liana goes up on her back paws so that she can nudge Beth in the nose.

“It’s fine,” Liam says. He looks like he wants to tell Louis something--maybe to try to keep his daemon from becoming large, unwieldy animals when they’re supposed to be filming in the smallest stairwell known to man--but seems to think better of it.

\--

Louis climbs into his bed again the night before their performance that week, but this time he has no excuse of a prank. Harry isn’t asleep either, since for some reason his nerves have decided to start early and he can’t stop going over every single moment of their performance. The song change is getting to him, but they’re ready. They have to be.

“Hey.” Louis nudges him with a shoulder and shifts on the bed so that they’re lying side by side on their backs, shoulders just brushing. Tiamat curls up on his chest as a cat.

“Hey,” Harry says back. “How are you?”

“So, Bruno Mars,” Louis begins, voice a little uncertain, with no prompting.

Harry blinks, not quite sure what he’s talking about. “Um,” he says.

“ _When I see your face_ ,” Louis sings quietly, “ _There’s not a thing that I would change_.”

Harry’s heart starts beating in double-time. “Um,” he says again.

“You tweeted it back the other day,” Louis continues, undeterred. “And then back in September.” He doesn’t look away from the underside of his bunk.

Harry swallows. “Um,” he says for the third time. “Yes?”

“And then The Script,” Louis continues, trailing off.

“Which we saw together,” Harry puts in.

“And that last one,” Louis finishes. “ _Hannah_.”

Harry licks his lips. “Yeah.”

Louis makes an odd noise. “And then Niall called me,” he says.

Harry remembers that. “Yeah, you got an iPhone.” He tries to smile.

Louis doesn’t smile back. “I don’t--” He breaks off and presses his hands together. “I’m not really sure what--” He stops again. “Harry, I--”

“Oh, for God's sake,” snaps Tiamat from atop his chest. “Harry.”

His name sounds weird from her lips.

“Kiss him or something, please, before I have to do something drastic,” Tiamat continues.

“Tiamat!” Louis hisses, appalled.

“Oh my God,” says Liana, from Harry’s own chest. “This is beautiful--I told you _so_!”

Harry swats at her, and turns his head so he can better meet Tiamat’s eyes. “What are you saying?” he asks her.

“ _Harry_!” Louis manages.

Harry ignores him.

“It’s not complicated,” Tiamat tells him, even as Louis makes a desperate sounding noise and thumps his head back against the pillow a few times. “I don’t know why he’s having so much trouble saying it.”

“Harry was awful back in September,” Liana puts in. “I had to make him text Niall.”

“You did no such thing,” Harry protests, casting Louis a quick look. “Not that I told Niall anything big or anything, honest,” he adds.

Louis finally meets his eyes, and Harry can see that his cheeks are bright red. He doesn’t seem to be able to speak yet.

“Did he mope?” says Tiamat. “Because Louis moped. It was awful. Do you know how many times he made me listen to The Fray?”

Liana looks gleeful. “I don’t know what you saw but Harry wouldn’t stop tweeting lyrics--”

“Okay!” Harry protests, loud enough that they all have to go still as Niall and Liam and Zayn move around in their respective beds. “Enough of _that--_ ”

“I’m going to kiss you,” Louis tells him. “Please don’t punch me.”

“Why would I punch you?” Harry tries to ask him, before Louis is doing just that. He somehow manages not to dislodge Tiamat as he curves around so that he can cup Harry’s cheek to do so, which Harry would be amazed at, if Louis wasn’t kissing him.

Wow. Louis is _kissing_ him.

He doesn't kiss him for long, just leans up and presses a quick peck to Harry’s mouth to get him to stop talking, but. _Louis is kissing him_.

“Oh,” Harry says.

“Oh?” Louis asks. “Good, oh?”

Harry swallows. “Yeah,” he says. “Yeah, really good, yeah.”

Louis blushes a bit more. “Cool,” he says.

Harry can feel himself flushing a little now too. “Can you do it again?” he asks, voice no more than a whisper, heart absolutely racing in his chest. Liana can feel it, but she doesn’t comment, instead just inches closer and closer to the gap between them, to where Louis’ bare arm rests on the bed.

“Yeah,” Louis breathes, and then tugs Harry until they’re more properly touching, Liana and Tiamat ending up in a bundle between them on the bed, and goes to kiss him again.

Harry’s eyes blink shut, before he has a thought. “Wait, Lou.” He twists to the side at the last minute, so that Louis’ lips end up pressed into the hair around his ears.

Neither of them move. “Yeah?” Louis says finally, lips grazing Harry’s ear lobe and making him shiver. He pauses, and then inhales.

Harry blinks. “Are you smelling me?” he says eventually, awkward in the silence.

Louis freezes again. “No?” he says after a long pause. “What did you want to know?”

Harry can’t hide his grin, and goes to pull back so that he can properly tease Louis, but the other boy just tightens his grip on him and refuses to pull back.

“Harry,” he says.

It comes out before Harry can stop himself. “What if we don’t win the X-Factor?”

Louis pulls back so that he can look Harry in the eye. “What do you mean?”

Harry looks down at Liana. “Like, what about us?”

Louis reaches out with a hand and pokes Harry in the cheek. “What, were you hoping to get rid of me?” he asks, sliding his hand forward so that his entire palm is stroking Harry’s face. “Because I’ll have you know I’m not that easy.”

Harry can’t help the way the tips of his ears flush, and he steadfastly ignores the way Liana worms her way more solidly in between them, pressing forward so that her shoulder is nudging Louis’ chest. Harry can feel every point of contact between Louis and his daemon like a livewire straight to his dick, and Louis’ lips being inches away is not helping matters much.

“Harry?” Louis drags his hand back and shifts a little on the bed, so that Liana goes tumbling into the space between them. She doesn’t seem all that bothered, pressing back against Louis’ chest with an evil grin.

“Never mind!” Harry manages, somewhat strangled. “Never mind, I’m sure we’ll work something out!” He hopes Louis doesn’t notice the state of his voice, or at least doesn’t mention it.

“Well, yeah,” Louis says slowly. “Like, maybe living together?”

Harry nods frantically and tries to get Liana to stop grinning at him. “Okay,” he manages, voice breaking halfway in the middle. “That’s fine, yeah.”

Louis watches him curiously for a while longer. “You could sound more excited about it,” he says, before very deliberately reaching out and running a finger down Liana’s back.

Harry’s head slams back against the mattress and he groans, unable to help himself. “Louis,” he mumbles out. “What’re you doing?”

“Hmm.” Louis settles his hand into the fur of Liana’s back, fingers curling and pulling just so.

Harry’s hips snap up on reflex and he swears, his own hands finding purchase in Tiamat’s own fur--so that’s where she’d been, on the other side--and Louis’ daemon wrenches away from the bed with a startled yowl.

“Sorry!” Harry manages, trying to get his breathing under control. “Sorry--blame Lou--”

For a moment, neither of them move, Harry’s pants filling the room. Liana worms her way free of Louis’ grip to curl up on Harry’s chest, heart thundering in her chest and matching time to his own. Harry presses his face into the back of her neck.

“Sorry,” he says again.

“It’s fine.” Louis sounds pained, and he hasn’t turned to look at Harry, eyes caught on his daemon, still as a statue only a few meters from Harry on the bed.

“I won’t do it again--” Harry starts to say.

“No, I--” says Louis, as Tiamat leaps back up onto the bed, finally turning back to Harry. His pupils are blown wide, only a sliver of blue left, and Harry can’t help but let his eyes trail down to the noticeable bulge in his pajama bottoms.

He swallows.

“It’s fine,” Louis says, taking hold of Harry’s hand. He strokes his thumb against Harry’s pulse point once and their breath goes stuttering into the space between them, before leaning in and kissing Harry.

It’s all Harry can do to kiss back, heart pounding in his chest, as Louis drags their hands down to stroke at the fur of Tiamat’s neck, and Liana crawls up to nestle around Louis’ neck.

\--

Harry wakes up the next morning and Tiamat is a leopard, half sprawled across Louis’ chest, and half sprawled across Harry’s own chest like a great, warm, living blanket. He can’t see much because it’s still dark, but he thinks he can just barely make out Liana curled into a tiny ball under Louis’ arm. Probably that should bother him, being that it’s taboo and all. But then, last night comes back in a warm rush, and he turns to stifle a smile in Louis’ hair.

He goes back to sleep.

Tiamat doesn’t change again.

\--

**November 2010**

\--

Harry’s almost surprised that it takes the boys that long to say something about it. After that first night in, he and Louis hadn't exactly gone out of their way to be all that subtle about the changes in their relationship. Nor had it been anything but obvious when Louis’d vanished to call home for an hour, emerging with red rimmed eyes and a tight mouth, only to spontaneously vanish to visit his mum several weeks later.

But then again, they'd all been rather distracted with Halloween, and also Tiamat settling had been cause enough for distraction at the time. They could finally start to figure out just who they as One Direction were, now that Tiamat was and would always be a large and powerful presence for every interview. The dynamic on the stairwell changed a bit too, since Liam and Louis, while still a little at each other’s throats, had taken to making thinly veiled jokes about cats and dogs, which the crew only tolerated because it seemed to be helping their relationship somehow, and started showing in rehearsals.

Harry himself had been walking around a little dazed and giddy, which hadn’t helped matters much.

On the plus side, there were lots of orgasms. Lots, and lots, and lots, and _lots_ of orgasms. Harry hadn’t even known there were that many ways to have orgasms, to be honest. This had the added bonus of calming Louis down considerably, although he still couldn’t stop touching Harry, but you win some and lose some.

The point being when Niall, Liam, and Zayn sit him and Louis down in their room a few days into the fifth week, Harry is surprised it’s taken so long.

He says as much.

“I knew day one,” says Niall immediately.

“I wasn’t really asleep,” puts in Zayn.

“I have to admit I had no idea,” concedes Liam, but he’s grinning.

Louis groans and flops back onto his and Harry’s bed. He ends up nearly squashing Liana, but she doesn’t so much as twitch, wriggling around under his back until she manages to worm free and curl up on top of his chest.

The rest of the boys are staring at them.

“What?” Louis says, not looking up. “I thought you said you knew?”

Liam is the first to recover. “Well, yeah,” he says, clearing his throat. “But, like, that’s marriage type stuff, Louis--like, I’ve only seen my parents do that once or twice--”

Something icy settles into the pit of Harry’s stomach and immediately Liana scrambles into his lap, curling around him and muttering praise. From her space on the floor, Tiamat lifts her giant head and stares unblinkingly at Liam.

“I mean,” Liam says, sounding flustered. “I’m not--I’m _happy_ for you, honestly, Tommo, but--”

“But, what?” Louis says, voice dangerous. Tiamat’s started to growl a little, only noticeable if you’re listening for it, and Bethania starts panting.

“But nothing,” says Zayn, shooting Liam and Louis equally pointedly looks. “We’re happy for you, full stop.”

Louis stares at Zayn for a long while, before letting out a breath. “Right,” he says. “Thanks, then.”

Tiamat doesn’t look away from Liam, but she puts her head back down on top of her paws. Liana presses a paw to Louis’ sternum, hard enough that Harry feels the familiar burn of arousal coil in the pit of his stomach, before darting down onto the floor and under her.

“We are,” says Liam. “I--I _am_ \--just. It’s unusual.”

Louis blinks at him for a few moments, before reaching around to grab Harry and tug him close to his chest. “Lucky thing Hazza and I aren’t usual, at all, then, yeah?” he says, smiling.

Harry can’t help the way his cheeks dimple in response, nor the way Liana emerges from under Tiamat’s chin with a noise of glee.

Liam, Zayn, and Niall stare back at the two of them with equally soft smiles.

“Yeah,” Liam says finally. “Yeah.”

\--

**December 2010**

\--

It occurs to Harry, the night before the final, that One Direction is a finite thing. He’s in bed, curled around Louis and Tiamat alike with Liana somewhere near their feet humming _Forever Young_ to herself when the thought reaches him, and immediately he stiffens.

“Hey.” Louis nudges him and then pokes him in the nose. “Stop thinking so hard, Hazza, you’ll strain something before the performance.”

Harry pinks slightly, and whines, “ _Lou_ ,” because he can.

Louis just smiles back down at him, eyes sparkling with amusement and affection. “Hey, but,” he says, suddenly serious. “Don’t do that.”

Harry frowns. “Do what?”

Louis reaches out and pokes him in the cheek, this time. “Well, frown, for starters,” he says, voice teasing. He doesn’t continue speaking until Harry’s given up on frowning. “Also, what did I tell you the that first night?”

Harry mulls that over. “Don’t stop,” he decides finally, since that’s probably the tamest thing he can think of. Although technically that’s a lie, since they hadn’t done much more than kiss and sort of pet each other’s daemons that first night. That being said, Harry’s pretty sure Louis probably said those two words at _some point_ , whether it be because Harry had his hand on his cock or not.

Louis doesn’t so much as flush. “Other than that,” he prompts. “Specifically with regards to housing.”

Harry barks out a startled laugh, and repeats that sentence back to him, amused.

Louis goes a bit flushed. “What?” he says. “Just because I didn’t pass my A-Levels doesn’t mean I didn’t study for them.”

Harry raises both of his hands up to the pillow and keeps smiling at Louis. “Fair,” he concedes. He’s actively grinning now, well aware that his dimples are on full display, and the sickening thought from earlier isn’t all that daunting, anymore. So what if they don’t win The X-Factor. One Direction is more than a singing group--they’re a family, now.

“So,” says Louis, voice gone soft. “Do you remember.”

“We’re going to live together,” Harry tells him, a bit dreamily.

Louis’ eyes crinkle in the corners. “There you go,” he says. “Also, come on, Hazza--Boys!”

There’s a collective groan from the bunks around them.

“Louis,” Niall whines. “I was sleeping.”

“I wasn’t,” says Liam, sounding pained. “Thanks for that, by the way.”

“Oi,” says Harry. “We weren’t doing anything!”

“I’m going to have to side with Liam,” pipes up Zayn, and Harry is appalled. “There was definitely something going on.”

“Yeah, just kissing,” Harry protests, cheeks pleasantly warm.

“Right.” Zayn’s voice is bone dry. “Definitely not nothing, then.”

“You never wake up,” says Louis, equally offended. “What did I ever do to you?”

“Consider it payback for the whole saber-toothed tiger thing,” says Zayn.

Louis huffs. “Fine,” he says. “But in all seriousness, we’re all going to stay friends if we don’t win, yeah?”

There’s not even a moments silence before the three of them jump in.

“Yeah,” says Niall, voice rough. “Of course we are--what’re you on about, Tommo.”

Louis makes a noise. “Hey, I’m not the one having a fit about it,” he says. “Young Harold is the one--”

“Young Harold is right here,” Harry interrupts, reaching out to gently pinch Tiamat’s ear between two fingers.

Louis’ jaw snaps shut.

“And also, really?”

There’s a scuffling noise, and then three different pillows come sailing towards the bed to hit Harry (and Louis, who is thankfully still silent) in the face and chest.

“Hey!”

“Of course, we’re serious, Harry, honestly,” says Niall, aghast. “What, did you think I’d forget your number as soon as I set foot back on Irish soil?”

“I dunno, Nialler, Irish soil is a bit of a mystery,” says Louis, voice muffled by the pillow covering his face. “Filled with, like, rainbows and pots of gold. For all I know it could actually be a magical place.”

Niall chucks his remaining pillow at the two of them, but it gets Harry instead, who retaliates by flinging one of the other ones right back at him. It makes contact with Niall with more force than Harry’d expected, a loud thump echoing into the air and Niall making a broken sounding noise.

“Ow,” Niall says eventually. “Got me right in the bollocks, Harold, thanks.”

It’s all Harry can do not to burst out into startled giggles and Louis is no better off.

“Anyway,” says Zayn loudly, ignoring Harry and Louis’ incessant laughter. “One Direction doesn’t end if we lose.”

“Yeah,” says Liam. “I, um--I love you guys too much to lose you.”

There’s a pause.

Harry and Louis stop laughing.

“Group hug on Liam’s bunk in five,” Louis says finally, and Liam and Zayn only have five seconds to protest.

“Hang on, what?” says Liam.

“But he’s on the top--is that even safe?” says Zayn.

“Group hug!” shouts Niall.

They don’t win the X-Factor.

Harry doesn’t find he minds all that much at all.

**\--**

**End 2010.**

**Author's Note:**

> Daemon list can be found on my tumblr [here](http://zimriya.tumblr.com/daemonau), and feel free to come say hi!


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